


underneath the mistletoe last night

by 101places



Series: AOS Advent [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21988750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: FitzSimmons daughter has some questions on Christmas day.( AKA : what if 'i saw mommy kissing santa claus' but agents of shield, I Guess )
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: AOS Advent [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558597
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	underneath the mistletoe last night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lukadarkwater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukadarkwater/gifts).



> merry christmas!

Over the past few years, Fitz and Simmons had quickly discovered that Christmas was an exhausting time for parents of young children. The months preceding it were spent buying gifts, the night before it was spent trying to calm hyper-active, excited children enough to sleep, and on the morning itself there was so much energy in the house that by mid-day Fitz was ready to call it a day and head back to bed.

However, this wasn’t possible. Every year, they attended Christmas dinner at the Academy with their friends at SHIELD, and this year was no exception. So Fitz and Simmons herded their two young children into the car, and the family began the trip to the Academy.

The car ride was pleasant - certainly more pleasant than Fitz and Simmons had expected. The tape they had of the Top Christmas Hits was enough to keep the children occupied, and the only source of noise from them came when Annie excitedly sung along to the songs she recognised. The journey was going well, until the first few notes of ‘ _ I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus _ ’ came on, and she suddenly fell quiet, not making any more noise until they reached the Academy.

When they pulled into the car park, Annie was out of the car the second the child-lock disengaged, bouncing away into the Academy without so much as a backwards glance.

Simmons rounded the car and opened the door for her younger child, Liam. “What’s gotten into her?”

Liam shrugged and took his mother’s hand as he jumped out of the car.

When he’d finished locking the car, Fitz walked over to his wife and son, blinking when he saw that they were missing one. “Did Annie go ahead?”

“Mhm. Maybe she went to find Deke?” Simmons replied, starting forwards towards the building herself.

Fitz looked away uneasily for a moment before following after her and Liam. “Yeah. Must be it.”

.

Inside the Academy, Annie was walking through the corridors with a conflicted expression on her little face. Christmas was probably her favourite day of the year, but she had seen something troubling the previous night that was getting in the way of her full enjoyment of it. 

Every year at Christmas, Annie stayed up as late as she could, determined to see Santa Claus himself. In previous years, she had stayed awake in her bed, feigning sleep when he came in to leave her stocking, filled with awe knowing that amazing man was there in her room, gifting her with presents that he knew she would love.

This year, however, she decided to up her game. This year, she didn’t just want to hear Santa. She wanted to see him.

She had started the same as always, feigning sleep while he left her stocking at the foot of her bed. Then, when she heard the door to her bedroom click shut, she had quietly crept out of bed, grabbing her nightgown and sneaking downstairs, peaking through the door to the living room to watch Santa leave her and Liam’s gifts under the Christmas tree.

It had been amazing, seeing him there in the flesh. She felt like one of the luckiest kids on the planet. But then, her mother had stepped out from the adjoining room, and approached Santa.

Annie watched with wide eyes as Santa turned to her mother, and kissed her on the lips.

Annie had ran back to her bedroom before she saw anything else, breathing heavily under her blanket until, eventually, she managed to fall asleep.

Now, she didn’t know what to do. Should she confront her mother? Should she tell her father? Would anyone even believe her that her mother was cheating on her father with Santa Claus?

So deep in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that anyone else was present until she felt a hand on her head, keeping her from crashing into the person in front of her. Annie looked up blearily, seeing the carefully neutral but not unsympathetic face of Enoch looking back down at her.

“Hello.” Enoch greeted, “I was not aware that you had arrived.”

“We just got here.”

“I see. Well. Merry Christmas, as you say.”

Annie looked up at Enoch with a pout.

“Is everything alright?”

“I don’t know.”

Enoch blinked and frowned at Annie. She sighed and reached for his hand, looking both ways down the corridor before tugging him into an empty classroom, shutting the door behind them.

“Can I tell you something? You’ve gotta promise not to tell anyone else, ever.”

“I promise.” Enoch spoke resolutely, offering his pinkie to Annie to seal the promise.

“I saw Santa Claus last night.” Annie revealed. “But then I saw something… weird.”

“What did you see?”

Annie pressed her lips together. “I think mummy’s cheating on daddy with Santa Claus.”

Enoch’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. I saw them kiss. I didn’t tell Liam, or daddy, or no one but you yet. I don’t know what to do, Enoch.” Her voice took a whine on the last sentence.

Enoch fell silent, giving the problem some serious thought, before finally coming up with a potential solution. “As told in the Earth tale The Santa Clause, there is precedent for killing Santa Claus. If he were to die-”

“I can’t kill Santa!” Annie exclaimed, then sighed. “Thanks for trying, Enoch.”

She left the classroom sadly, leaving the Chronicom to plot the downfall of Santa Claus alone.

She continued to wander around the Academy, purposefully avoiding the main gathering areas. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to see her family right now.

As she passed the labs, she heard a noise coming from inside and hesitated, opening the door a crack to see who was inside. Despite her inner turmoil, she couldn’t help but smile when she saw who it was. Maybe there was one member of her family who she wouldn’t mind seeing.

“Hi, Deke.”

Deke looked up from the complex machine he was working on and stood in front of it, trying unsuccessfully to hide it from view. His shifty behaviour only made Annie more curious, and she darted up to him. “What’re you hiding?”

“Uh- nothing! There’s- there’s totally nothing back here. Nope. Nothing at all.”

Annie crossed her arms and looked up at him with a pout. “I’ve had a really hard day and I just wanna know what you’ve got.”

Deke groaned, caving in to the 7-year-old and stepping aside to let her see the machine fully. “It’s a high-powered snow machine. I’ve been working on it all week. It was  _ supposed _ to be a surprise.”

Annie bounced up to it, looking it over. “It’s for me?”

“Well, you and Liam, yeah. I remember you guys complaining that it doesn’t snow much here anymore.”

Annie looked up at Deke with a bright smile. “I love it!”

Deke leaned against the surface. “You said you’ve had a hard day?”

Annie’s smile dropped off of her face. “Yeah.”

“So? What happened?”

“Mummy’s cheating on daddy with Santa Claus.”

Deke spluttered. “Wai- what? Seriously? Woah, that’s- … that’s actually pretty cool.”

“What?” Annie squeaked.

“I mean, it sucks. Sucks for bobo, like, a  _ lot _ . But having Santa Claus as a grandpa? That’s kind of cool.”

“No, it’s not! What if mummy and daddy break up?”

“Oh, man… I’m really not the guy to deal with this.” Deke stood up straight. “Let’s, uh, let’s go for a walk.”

Deke left the room, and Annie trailed behind him dejectedly. Maybe having Santa Claus as a daddy was kind of cool in theory, but Annie didn’t  _ want _ her daddy to be Santa. She loved her daddy as he was.

She followed Deke down the corridors of the Academy, until he came to a stop outside one of the classrooms, knocking on it and waiting for a response. A few moments passed before a familiar voice called out from inside. “Come in?”

Deke opened the door and stepped inside, Annie following him. In the room were two women that Annie knew well - Daisy, sitting on one of the tables, and May, standing not too far from her.

Daisy grinned when she saw Annie. “Hey monkey, wanna come over her and give me a hello hug?”

“I think I have reached the point in my life where hello hugs aren’t appropriate. I can shake your hand, if you’d like.”

Daisy blinked, then looked up at Deke. “Uh…”

“Yeah, we have a huge problem.” Deke said. “Annie, I think you should tell them.”

Annie took a breath. “Mummy’s cheating on daddy.”

There was silence in the room for a few long moments, before it was finally broken by May.

“What makes you say that?”

“Last night, I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus. So she’s cheating on daddy with him."

There was no silence this time, just the sound of Daisy’s barely stifled laughter. May shot the younger woman a look, and she managed to hold them in.

May stepped forwards, crouching down so she was at Annie’s level. “Have you spoken to your daddy about this?”

Annie shook her head solemnly.

“I think you should.”

Annie frowned. “But what if something bad happens?”

“Nothing bad will happen.” May replied. “Go, now.”

The firmness in May’s voice was comforting, and Annie found some of her anxieties eased. She gave a quick nod, and turned to leave - but before she left she paused and turned back around, bouncing across the room and embracing Daisy tightly.

“I think goodbye hugs are still appropriate. And I wanted one.”

Daisy smiled and gave her a tight hug back. “See you later, monkey.”

With those words in her hears, Annie untangled herself from Daisy and left the room.

When she was gone, Deke looked between May and Daisy nervously.

“So, what are we going to do about it? I get it’s their relationship, but shouldn’t we-”

Before he could finish, Daisy began to laugh again, and May silently left the room.

.

Annie made her way to the main room, and was happy to see her family setting up the table alongside Enoch. She wandered over to them, clearing her throat when she got close.

“Daddy can I speak to you in private?”

Simmons looked over and gave her daughter a quizzical look. “What for?”

“Um, it’s a secret.” Annie addressed her mother, then turned back to her father. “Daddy, please?”

Fitz seemed perplexed, but stepped back from the table and followed his daughter to the adjoining room. Inside, he leaned against the table and looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”

Annie took a deep breath, and began to explain everything.

“Last night I didn’t go to sleep even though I knew I was really supposed to, but I went downstairs to try and see Santa and I saw- I saw him kissing mummy, and I didn’t know if I should tell you or not, but Auntie May said I should, and it was better than the ideas that Uncle Enoch and Uncle Deke had, anyway.”

For a few seconds Fitz looked at Annie, processing what she had said, and then his cheeks began to turn red. “A-ah.”

“So what are we gonna do?”

“We, uh, we don’t- we don’t have to, uh, we don’t have to do anything.”

“But mummy cheated on you! With Santa!”

“No she, uh, she didn’t.”

“I  _ saw _ her!”

“I mean, uh- I- I mean-” Fitz wracked his brain, trying to think of an excuse that would work. “It’s okay, because mummy… had my permission. To, uh, to kiss Santa.”

Annie frowned and blinked. “That’s… allowed?”

“Yeah. Uh, yeah. Sometimes.”

“...Huh.”

“Yeah.”

Silence stretched in the room, before Annie shrugged and smiled, turning to leave. “Okay. I’ll go help with the table now!”

Fitz stayed in the room for a moment longer, running his hands down his face and groaning softly.

.

The rest of the party went without a hitch, not including the occasional subtle tease coming from Daisy, and by the time they left Annie and Liam were exhausted. Though, when they arrived home, they both insisted that they weren’t too exhausted for their regular bedtime story, so Simmons took them upstairs to settle them down.

Fitz stayed downstairs, pouring himself something to drink and sitting down on the sofa sleepily.

Some time passed, but eventually Simmons appeared at the bottom of the stairs. There was an amused expression her face that Fitz would have caught, had he not been quite so tired.

Simmons crossed the room and sat down beside him, pecking his cheek as a greeting. “I put the kids to bed. Annie had some interesting thoughts.”

“Oh, yeah? What was it this time?”

“Well, for some strange reason, she seemed to think that we’re in an open relationship with Santa Claus.”

Fitz’s cheeks began to redden again. “...Huh. I wo- I wonder why she thinks that.”

“I wonder.” Simmons said dryly.

“It mu- must’ve been- bloody Deke. You know what he’s like, always saying things that don’t make any se- hey. Hey. Why are you laughing? Jemma?”

Simmons looked up at him, trying to smother her giggles. “Fitz, she told me what you said to her.”

Fitz realised that there was no further reason to try to deny it. “Well- what was I supposed to say?”

“Anything but that.” Simmons managed to reply through her laughter.

Fitz opened his mouth to attempt to defend himself, then shut it again when he realised that nothing he could say would make it any better. He looked at Simmons through narrowed eyes for a moment, before he leaned forwards and captured her mouth in a kiss. That, at least, put an end to her laughs.

After a few moments, they pulled back again and Simmons shifted so that she could lean against him, her head resting against his chest.

“Mm. You know,” She began, pausing to make sure that she had Fitz’s full attention. “You are a better kisser than Santa.”

Fitz just groaned.


End file.
